BIBLE STUDY: MARCH 13, 2019

Please read the seventh question and response from the Responsive Covenant below that we read at Charity every First Sunday. This is an essential part of our monthly vows to God and His son and our Savior Jesus Christ. And read Matthew 18:15-20 and answer the questions.

MINISTER: Since one is our Master, even Christ, and all we are brethren, by what fraternal ministries are we to strengthen each other and adorn the teachings of our Lord and Saviour?

CONGREGATION: We further engage to watch over one another in brotherly love; to remember each other in prayer; to aid each other in sickness and distress; to cultivate Christian sympathy in feeling and courtesy in speech; to be slow to give or take offense, but always ready for reconciliation and mindful of the rules of our Saviour to seek it without delay.

MATTHEW 18:15-20 NKJV

15 “Moreover if your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. If he hears you, you have gained your brother.

16 But if he will not hear, take with you one or two more, that ‘by the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established.’

17 And if he refuses to hear them, tell it to the church. But if he refuses even to hear the church, let him be to you like a heathen and a tax collector.

18 “Assuredly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.

19 “Again I say to you that if two of you agree on earth concerning anything that they ask, it will be done for them by My Father in heaven.

20 For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them.”

QUESTIONS:

1. The “Rules of the Savior” from the seventh response in the Responsive Reading comes from Matthew 18:15-20. Do these rules apply to all relationships or just in the church?

2. Are you “slow to give or take offense” from other members of Charity?

3. What do you think is the value for Christians of Matthew 18:15 and have you ever followed this rule from Jesus?

4. What Old Testament Scripture was Jesus quoting in Verse 16 and how does it support what Jesus says in Verse 16?

5. How could the correct application of Verse 16 make us more just in our treatment of other members of Charity Missionary Baptist Church?

6. Do you think Verse 17 authorizes us to kick out members of Charity who don’t accept the church’s decision regarding them?

7. What do you think Jesus meant in Verse 18, when he talked about binding and loosing on earth and in heaven?

8. Who do you think Jesus is talking about in Verse 19 when he said, “if two of you agree on earth”?

9. When Jesus said in Verse 19, “concerning anything that they ask,” who are the they?

10. What have you been taught or thought before now about what Jesus said in Verse 20, “For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them.” And does “two or three are gathered” in Verse 20 mean that there must two or three Christians present before Jesus will be with them?

11. Does Verse 20 mean that we can start church meetings when just two show up because Jesus is present with when two of us show up?

12. What do you think is the proper interpretation of “where two or three are gathered” and why?